ATLANTIS
by shinytinfoil
Summary: A mission to a strange mutant prison underneath the Atlantic ocean reveals a piece of Logan's past...
1. Chapter 1: Xavier

Title: ATLANTIS  
  
Summary: A mission to a strange mutant prison underneath the Atlantic ocean reveals a piece of Logan's past...  
  
Pairings: Mostly Logan/Riley, implied Storm/Kurt(Nightcrawler). Some Rogue/Bobby.  
  
Disclaimer: These are so stupid! If I owned X-men, would I be writing FAN FICTION??? I think not!  
  
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Professor Charles Xavier sat in the center of Cerebro and gazed at the cluster of two red dots off the coast of Maine. A minute ago, there had been three.  
  
He'd been searching for a hint of Jean- despite all the evidence presented, he was unable to believe that she was really, truly gone- when a mind had reached for his.  
  
The contact had been fleeting, and the body supporting it was terribly weak. It had been a final stretch beyond the empathic mutant's means, a desperate call for help. They were starving, dying, unable to escape. And while he delved deeper into the contact's mind, trying to establish a secure link, the mutant had expired. The shock of death was not a new one, but he would never get used to it.   
  
He pulled the Cerebro helmet off and turned around, moving slowly to pay tribute to the strong mind that had reached his.  
  
Storm was waiting outside the chamber, as he'd known she would be. Nowadays, someone was always there while he worked, usually Storm. Scott would usually be sobbing by the time he exited, and Logan had no patience for it. The watcher was occasionally joined by Kurt, also known as the Incredible Nightcrawler, who was crouching beside Storm now, running his rosary beads through his fingers and muttering prayers in german.   
  
Both were in their pajamas, and he spared a second's amusement at Kurt's pinstriped garments that were not unlike a pair he himself occasionally wore, the normality at odds with the strangeness of his appearance, and yet, like everything about Kurt, they were in perfect harmony. Storm's sweatpants and tanktop always struck him as too normal for the exotic elegance the elemental mutant possessed. Try hard as she might, Storm would never fit into society. A beauty like her was born to stand out.  
  
They both straightened as he exited the chamber, Storm reacting to the look on his face, Nightcrawler reacting to Storm's reaction.  
  
"I'll wake Scott and Logan," Storm said, a hint of her african accent coloring her words. Xavier loved the richness of his students' cultures- Storm african, Kurt german, Scott all-american, Rogue southern bell. It made for interesting listening.  
  
"And Rogue too, I think," Xavier added before she had a chance to walk away. Storm nodded and turned into the elevator.  
  
"I will watch the children," Kurt said softly.  
  
"No." Nightcrawler looked startled. It was usually a given that the indigo mutant was on baby-sitting detail. The students adored him, and he them. "You'll be needed," he explained "Scott and I will stay."   
  
Nightcrawler said nothing, but Xavier knew he was aware of the implications of that statement. Scott- Cyclops- was, or had been, the leader of the X-men. Leaving him behind wouldn't sit well with the rest of the team, but Scott's mind needed time to heal. Jean's death was two months past, but Scott still broke into sobbing fits at irregular intervals. He was more depressed than the others realized...   
  
"I will make coffee?" Kurt asked after they reached the door to the map room.   
  
Xavier smiled, glad for the subtle nudge back to the present. "That would be nice. It is rather early." One a.m., to be exact. Logan would be grumpy. This would be not be fun.  
  
Nightcrawler disappeared with his trademark `bamf` just as Rogue padded quietly around the corner, fully dressed except for her feet, which were still sporting fuzzy slippers, pulling her hair up into a knot at the base of her skull. "Good morning, Professor," she said around a yawn.  
  
He smiled affectionately. "Good morning, Rogue. Sorry to wake you."  
  
She shrugged and leaned against the wall, blinking her green eyes blearily. "S'ok. It must be important." He loved the way the young woman trusted him, fully and whole-heartedly, enough not to get mad when he had her woken up when she'd only gone to sleep three hours ago. "Besides, Storm's so nice about it, you can't really get mad, you know?"   
  
He nodded and the room lapsed into silence again, until heavy footsteps sounded down the hall. Rogue, rather smartly, moved to the opposite side of the room.  
  
It was a pity the doors slid open automatically, because a slammed door would have completed Logan's disgruntled entrance. He scowled at Xavier and at the world in general. "What is it, Chuck?" He hadn't bothered to get dressed, and was wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants.  
  
"I'll tell you when the others get here. In the mean time, take a seat." Mercifully, Nightcrawler appeared just then, bearing a tray laden with coffee mugs. He silently handed one to Logan, who downed half of it in one gulp. Xavier sent Kurt a grateful thought, and the teleporter blinked yellow eyes solemly in return.  
  
Two more minutes, and Storm reappeared, trailed by a slouching Scott, who had visible tearstains on his cheeks. Storm had apparently had to coax him into coming. He didn't even bother probing into Cyclops' mind, knowing what he'd find and not needing the distraction right now.  
  
He moved over to the map and entered the data he'd gotten from Cerebro, and the empath's contact. The map's computer was quite brilliant, if he dared say so himself, and instantly uploaded satellite images of the coordinates. Since it was the Atlantic ocean, the surface stayed still. He turned to his team.  
  
"I was contacted during my session with Cerebro, by an unknown mutant with some telempathic gift, off the coast of Maine. From what I could discern, he was at a secret research facility code-named ATLANTIS." Logan twitched slightly, but Xavier pretended not to notice. "The facility had apparently been abandoned, with several mutants still inside, unable to escape." Storm gasped, the first to realize the cruelty that lay in that. "The empath was sending out a mental distress call, hoping someone would hear. I heard, and was able to get his coordinates before he died."  
  
He stopped and took a breath. "There are still two mutants alive, and we must rescue them." Collecting himself, he continued. "The X-jet can submerge to within three feet of the facility's entrance, but I can give Kurt a mental image of the inside, and he can transport the team in."  
  
Kurt drew himself to his full height of over six feet, and nodded regally, but Storm frowned. "Who will stay with the children?"  
  
Xavier sighed. "Scott and I will stay." Instead of the argument he expected, Scott simply nodded and proceeded to shuffle out, throwing a 'good luck' behind him as an afterthought. Storm watched him worriedly, and made eye contact with the Professor, who nodded. He would talk to Scott.   
  
"Do I get a uniform this time?" Rogue asked, trying to break the tension, which Xavier appreciated, even if she didn't have the finesse Kurt had.  
  
"Yes, Rogue," he said with amusement. "You get a uniform."  
  
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Review! Tell me what you think! Next chapter could be tomorrow, if you review!   
  
Oh, and I decided to give Rogue a uniform because on my Dr Pepper can,she's wearing one. 


	2. Chapter 2: Logan

Okay, this chapter is kind of short, but the next one is longer. I wanted to put a nice cliffhanger in this one.  
  
Thank yous to ehj2003 and Pendragon, my first two reviewers. If I wasn't so selfish, I'd dedicate the chapter to you. Pick one you like and call it yours.  
  
Disclaimer: Fan fiction, hon. Look it up.  
  
  
  
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Logan strapped himself into one of the front seats of the X-jet, mentally grousing about the uncomfortable uniform he had to wear, though the leather was much more flexible now than it had been at first. He heard Rogue squirming around in her seat, and pitied her having to wear a new uniform without a chance to work it out in the Danger Room.  
  
The real reason he was grumbling was to keep his mind off the mission. For some reason, going to this ATLANTIS place made him feel uncomfortable and Logan couldn't pin down the reason, which bothered him. Where could he have heard of ATLANTIS before? The name sparked memories; nothing he could bring to the surface, but they were definately swimming beneath.  
  
Storm flicked the thrusters to life and opened the roof, smoothly bring the jet straight up, smiling slightly. Logan figured she felt the same way about flying the plane as he did about driving Scott's motorcycle: euphoric. She was a good pilot, too. Her knowledge of the wind currents made for a very smooth ride. Unfortunately, that left him alone with his thoughts today.  
  
"How do you people wear these things?" Rogue asked, balling her right hand into a fist, grimacing as that simple gesture was made difficult.  
  
"I concur. This is very uncomfortable," Kurt added, his uniform also brand-new, a hole cut at the last minute for his tail.  
  
Storm gave a low-pitched chuckle. "They'll loosen up."  
  
"I doubt it," Kurt muttered softly, flexing his legs and arms. Logan supressed a laugh at the leather creaks, remembering his first mission in the uniform, at Liberty Island. That fight with Mistique had been a struggle, not that he'd ever admit it.  
  
"E.T.A. two minutes, guys," Storm said, giving no indication she'd heard Kurt's remark, but a slight amused sparkle in her eyes suggested she had. Logan, in preparation, popped his claws out and then withdrew them, cutting slits into his gloves. For some reason, Xavier insisted on giving him a new pair after every mission, knowing perfectly well he'd just ruin them again. The old man was as stubborn as you could get.  
  
Slowly, Storm circled a patch of bare ocean and carefully landed, checking the monitors as she submerged until the water hid the jet's presense, then shut down everything but life-support. "Kurt, you got the visual from the Professor?"  
  
Nightcrawler stood. "Yes. Who wishes to go first?"  
  
"I will," Logan growled, suddenly impatient. He unbuckled and stood.  
  
He wasn't crazy about having the elf hug him, but it was over quickly enough, and then Kurt returned to get someone else, leaving him alone in the semi-darkness of the corridor. He could see just fine, but he looked for a light switch all the same, and found one beside a heavy door, which opened after he inserted a claw into the locking mechanism. He was aware that Rogue was behind him, but didn't glance back as he moved swiftly down the hall and instinctively opened another heavy door to his right.  
  
The smell of death and decay hit him square in the face, and he twitched his head sideways in disgust, while he heard Rogue gag behind him. There were rows of cells, containing what had been mutants, all recently expired, from the decay rate. Rogue shouldn't have come in, he realized belatedly, but she stayed behind him, matching him step-for-step.   
  
Some forgotten memory guided him down the cells to a specific one, and he stared into it. The mutant was female, and was lying on her side with her back to him. "Hey!" he voiced. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, painfully, she shifted onto her back, barely able to raise herself up. Black eyes strained towards him, though she didn't move an inch.   
  
"Logan?" she whispered hoarsely, and his heart stopped.  
  
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Review! It really does motivate me to post faster!  
  
Oh, and if anyone recognized it, the whole thing about the stiff leather I got from the DVD extras on the 1.5 version. Kudos if you got it. 


	3. Chapter 3: Storm

All right. Here t'is. Enjoy!  
  
Thanks for all the reviews! Post more! To Pendragon: I totally understand about muses not cooperating... my muse must be german, it takes so much vacation time.  
  
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Storm studied the dark-haired woman they'd rescued from ATLANTIS, one of the two they'd managed to save, out of the hundred-some mutants that had been there. The other one was a red-headed girl, barely over fifteen. They were both in pretty bad shape, so malnourished the first few hours had bent precariously towards death, but the beeps on the monitors were steady now, IV's feeding them life-giving nutrients in liquid form.  
  
The bars on the cells had been adamantine, so Kurt had had to teleport them out. Logan had frozen up in front of this one's cell, and had been silent the rest of the trip, hovering around the whole time and nearly worrying himself sick, only going to bed after Storm had promised to alert him of any change. She must be important, so Storm studied her closely.  
  
As anoretic as she looked, Storm could tell that the woman on the table in front of her must have been a beauty, and would be again, with a little meat on her bones. She had good facial structure and lovely, long eyelashes, and her short black curls framed her face nicely. Even though she hadn't seen the sun in who-knows-how-long, her skin retained a dusky golden hue, indicating some Middle-eastern blood, probably Egyptian. About five six, her eyes would almost be on level with Logan's when she stood, and that thought gave her an instant's amusement. What was tall for a woman was considered short for a man. In her homeland, most of the people were tall and wiry. This woman was built much the same way.  
  
The only outward signs of her mutation were her eyes, which had no iris and an enlarged pupil, as though the pupil had swallowed the iris. The effect was eeire, but the Professor said that her vision was nearly tripled, so it must have been worth it. Her muscles were structured slightly differently, to what end Storm couldn't guess, and her knees had evolved into something that worked a little bit like a ball-and-socket joint, which minimized the risk of a knee hyper-extending, though only upon close inspection was this noticeable.   
  
The most interesting thing was that this woman was wearing dog tags exactly like Logan's, adamantine, with her first name, a serial number, and a nickname. This woman's name was Riley, she was Mutant Number 132, and her nickname was the Spider. Enhancing the military feel of the dog tags was her attire: a pair of fatigue pants, a form-fitting black t-shirt, and a pair of fingerless gloves. While she was barefoot, the red-head (whose dog tags said was Shay, a.k.a. Flash) had had on military combat boots, black ones. They both had the word ATLANTIS tattooed on their right bicep, though Riley had somehow managed to tattoo a spiderweb over her's, which actually was kind of cool.  
  
A slight motion interrupted her careful scrutiny, and she looked up to see black eyes slowly blink open. She moved so that the woman could see her. "Good morning," she said pleasantly, with a smile.  
  
The woman swallowed hard and then offered a half-smile. "Where's Logan?" she asked, voice low-pitched and pleasant.  
  
Storm smiled with amusement, having expected the woman to know Logan, since he obviously knew her. "I sent him away. He was driving me crazy, pacing."  
  
She chuckled. "Can I sit up?"  
  
"I suppose," Storm replied slowly, and helped her up.  
  
The woman's eyes roamed the room, taking in every detail, until they returned to Storm. "I'm Riley," she offered, holding out a hand.  
  
Storm took it gently, afraid to crush the brittle-feeling appendage. "I'm Ororo, but everyone calls me Storm. I was one of the ones that found you."  
  
Riley acknowledged that with a grateful nod, then saddened. "Did anyone else make it?"  
  
"One, a girl. Her tags say her name is Shay?"  
  
She brightened considerably, flashing startlingly white teeth in a delighted grin. "Flash!" She brought both hands together joyfully, though not in a reverental way, almost like a half clap. "Thank the heavens for that. She's only fifteen, you know. She doesn't deserve to die."  
  
"None of them deserved to die," Storm said quietly, remembering those rows of bodies.  
  
"But least of all the youngest ones," she said just as quietly, fixing Storm with a penetrating gaze. Then, abruptly, she changed the subject. "So, where am I?"  
  
"Oh!" Storm was embarassed for not explaining before. "You're in New York, Westchester. Underneath the school."  
  
Riley raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, instead asking if she could see the girl called Flash.  
  
"She's still unconcious, and I don't think you should be walking around just yet. Maybe tomorrow," Storm said, picking up a syringe containing a mild sedative and expecting her to put up a fight.  
  
Instead, Riley rolled up her sleeve and held out her arm. "The vein is in the middle of the second A," she said, pointing to her tattoo, apparently used to injections. "Will that help me sleep?"  
  
She assured her that it would, and she settled down neatly, hands folded over her chest, ankles crossed, which Storm found disturbingly corpse-like, like a body in a funeral home, but the woman was soon asleep. After a moment's contemplation, she headed over to check on Flash.  
  
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FYI, Dr Pepper and X-men did some promotional stuff for X2, including putting the characters on cans of DP. I have Cyclops, Rogue, Professor X, and one with Cyclops, Storm and Jean Grey.  
  
As always, review! 


	4. Chapter 4: Logan

Chapter Four! Read and Review!  
  
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Sleep had come more easily that he'd expected, and Logan woke up a good twelve hours later, with the moonlight streaming through his window, unwilling to leave his bed. Hunger finally motivated him to get up and get dressed, and he ambled down the halls to the kitchen. It was ten o'clock, past curfew for the students, but Jones, who never slept, was channel-surfing, as usual, and didn't acknowledge his presense, for which he was grateful. He didn't feel much like talking.  
  
He pulled the remains of a casserole out of the fridge and proceeded to demolish it with single-minded determination, until he heard a whisper of movement in the hallway, and looked up to see the dark-haired woman from ATLANTIS tiptoe in. She smiled in greeting. "Hey."  
  
"Hey yourself," he replied, only then realizing he'd been staring, and returned to his casserole. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"  
  
"Probably," she said, pulling the fridge open and inspecting it's contents. "Storm fell asleep," she explained without looking at him. "I hooked her up to the monitors." She took a container of soup out and sat across from him with a spoon, eating a cold spoonful with a grimace.  
  
"You could heat it up," he said, gesturing towards the microwave.   
  
"No, it's fine," she said. "It's just... food in general tastes pretty bad right now. I guess you've never been starving." He shook his head. "Well, after a while, you stop being hungry, and you have to force yourself to eat, slowly. I could die from overeating as easily as malnutrition right now." She ate another spoonful matter-of-factly.  
  
"What are you, some kind of doctor?" He scraped the last bits of pasta and burned cheese off the sides, mostly to give his hands something to do.   
  
"I wanted to be, once," she said, then looked up. "I told you that before."  
  
Eyes so deviod of color were a little bit creepy when they were fixed on you. "Yeah, I, uh... forgot. Everything."  
  
"Ah. I figured as much. How far back?" she cocked her head, inviting him to tell the story.  
  
"All the way." Her expression encouraged him to go on. "I woke up in the woods, and didn't remember a thing."  
  
"After you escaped from Alkali," she said quietly, tracing the tiled counter top with her index finger. "The first time, anyway." In an abrupt mood swing, she locked eyes with him. "You want me to tell you what I know?"  
  
Logan hesitated, then leaned forward. "Yes."  
  
She blinked at the intesity of that single word, then put the lid back on the soup container and placed it in the refridgerator. Logan watched, slightly put out that she was willing to delay the telling of his past to put away food. She turned for the door, and gestured for him to follow. "Walk with me?"  
  
Outside, she seemed to perk up a bit, inhaling and exhaling with gusto, stretching her arms carefully. "Beautiful night," she commented, more to herself than to him, and he growled his impatience quietly. "I don't know everything, Logan," she cautioned.  
  
"So tell me what you know. Start with ATLANTIS."  
  
She made a sound between a sigh and a shudder. "The place was a nightmare after you escaped. Sorry," she added, aware that her tone had been slighty accusatory. "Anyways. The official speech was that ATLANTIS was a place to house dangerous mutants away from society. A prison specially designed for it's occupants. But since every mutant is a dangerous mutant, according to Stryker-"  
  
"Wait, wait. Stryker was in on this?"  
  
"Well, yeah. How else do you think you ended up at Alkali Lake? The whole thing was his idea. Don't interrupt me again. Where was I?" She turned off the main walk to walk on the bare ground.   
  
"Since every mutant is a dangerous mutant..." he prompted.  
  
"Ah. Since every mutant is a dangerous mutant, according to Stryker-" It was amazing how much hatred could be infused into one name. "-most mutants put into ATLANTIS hadn't done anything to merit their incarceration."  
  
"Besides live," Logan said quietly.  
  
"Exactly. You were one of the first occupants of ATLANTIS. You were there when I was brought in. I was twelve. I don't know how old you were. Its been fifteen-sixteen years now, and you still look, sound, smell exactly the same. A little more angry, maybe."  
  
"How'd you end up in ATLANTIS?"  
  
"My parents turned me in," she said bitterly, features hardening into an expressionless mask. Realizing he'd touched a nerve, Logan said nothing. After a moment, she continued. "You didn't have the adamantine skeleton yet. After about six months-"  
  
"How did we know each other?" He winced inwardly as he realized he'd interrupted again, but she didn't seem to notice.  
  
"Cell mates. We both required high-security cells, and Stryker was too cheap at the time to make all the cells adamantium, so he stuck us both in the same one. He changed it after your escape, upgraded the security, tattooed everybody. He figured you'd come back for me." Her tone said she'd figured the same thing.  
  
"Sorry," he said, sure that, had he had his memories, he would have.   
  
"That's okay." She shrugged philosophically. "It taught me about hope, and how you shouldn't have it." She crossed her arms and watched her bare feet make prints in the dirt, as though she had said too much.  
  
Not quite knowing what to say to that, he changed the subject. "So, what do you do?"  
  
"What?" She glanced up, startled.  
  
"Your powers. What do you do that merits a high-security cell?"  
  
She flashed him a grin and jumped up and back, landing in a crouch on the side of the mansion, where she stayed, as casual as if she was sitting on the floor, grinning devilishly at him. "I do that," she said proudly.   
  
"Oh," was all he could think of, which hardly seemed adequate.   
  
"And I do this." She pointed two fingers, her index and middle ones, at a tree behind him, and a string of nearly invisible white stuff shot out, adhering to the tree. She swung, tarzan-style, and he barely remembered to duck before she landed behind him, feet firmly planted, as neatly as any gymnast. "Plus, you taught me how to fight, so..."  
  
"So, apparently, to some, the term 'dangerous' applies," he said dryly, dusting his jeans off. She brushed a leaf off his jacket, then cocked her head at him thoughtfully. "What?"  
  
She blinked. "It's good to see you again, Logan." Her tone was frank, sincere, backed by the open affection in her eyes.  
  
He couldn't think of a thing to say to that, either. So he wrapped his arms around her in a hug that was half apology, half genuine fondness. She tucked her head against his shoulder and sighed, leaning trustingly against him.  
  
In that moment, the world seemed a little less hostile to both of them.  
  
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Review! 


	5. Chapter 5: Rogue

Okay. Due to the insubstantial length of this chapter, I'm posting two at the same time. And Riley is NOT a Mary-Sue character. Just wait and see. First impressions COULD be deceiving...  
  
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Rogue knew she should pay more attention to her lunch, and to her friends sitting around her, but she couldn't keep her eyes off the gaunt woman introduced to the students as Riley. From the parts of Logan she had absorbed, she felt a vague sense of recognition whenever she caught those weird eyes, but couldn't get the whole memory.   
  
The Arabic-looking woman was sitting with Storm, watching some of the boys playing a basketball game, several of whom were using their powers to show off for her. She didn't blame them. There was something about her, an unspeakable grace in her thin frame, that enhanced her features to the point of beauty.  
  
That bothered her, because she was using the part of her mind where Logan was imprinted, and she knew that was how Logan looked at her. Not that she was jealous, as everyone would assume. Everyone thought she was in love with Logan, even Bobby, despite all she could do to persuede them otherwise, and she'd given up trying. They could never understand what it was like to know a person so completely that you could predict their movements, their thoughts. She couldn't love Logan, not in the way they were thinking. But there was an affection there, as though they were older brother and little sister. Logan would protect her, and she would aspire to be just like him. That was how it worked.  
  
As Logan's little sister, she wasn't sure if she liked the idea of Logan getting involved with someone she didn't know. She'd make a point of talking to her later.  
  
Kitty nudged her arm and pointed. The red-head they'd saved was walking beside the Professor, using his chair as a support. Riley stood and walked over, concern and happiness fighting for position on her features. The Professor glanced over at Rogue, and she excused herself, jogging over.  
  
"Rogue, I'd like you to meet Shay." Xavier mentally communicated that he wished for her to make the shy red-head feel welcome.   
  
"Hi," Rogue said with her friendliest drawl, "I'm Rogue."  
  
"I'm Shay. Call me Flash."  
  
"You wanna come sit with us, Flash?" Rogue was aware of Riley hovering protectively in the background, and Flash glanced over at her before answering. Riley nodded, and Flash smiled hesitantly.   
  
"Okay." She held out a hand, and Rogue took it, gripping her arm at the elbow for the extra support, wondering at the weakness in the teen's frame, compared to Riley's apparent health, but put it out of her mind.  
  
"C'mon. I'll introduce you to everybody. Don't worry," she laughed at the flash of apprehension that moved across those delicate features. "They're all nice."  
  
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Review now, or after the next chapter. 


	6. Chapter 6: Xavier

Read + Review  
  
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Riley watched them go, then turned to the Professor. "She doesn't like me." It wasn't a question, but it was tinged with confusion, asking for an explanation.  
  
"Rogue is very protective of Logan," Xavier said slowly, eyes on Kitty as the sweet-natured girl scooted over to make room for Flash. "And of Logan's feelings," he added, hoping to gauge a reaction. The girl's mind was extremely hard to penetrate, past her surface thoughts.   
  
But she simply looked thoughtful, watching a particularly witty comment from Jubilee earn a laugh from the red-head, and a smile appeared on her own lips.  
  
"You care very much for her," he observed.  
  
She shrugged. "She's young. She didn't deserve what she got handed to her. But she shouldered it nicely. Gotta admire that." She reached over and placed a hand over his, opening her thoughts to his in the same instant. Instantly he saw Flash as Riley saw her: a girl, powerful beyond words, opportunities limitless even though she didn't appreciate it. He saw the red-head breaking the sound barrier while running; screaming profanities he hadn't even known at that age at Stryker as two of his guards dragged her to a cell, despite their abrasive attempts to subdue her; swinging an ineffective punch through the bars as Riley was taken away for some kind of experiment; bruised and bloody from a punishment for attempted escape.   
  
Riley drew her hand away, and her mind with it, and smiled fondly. "Okay, so she's not that smart sometimes, but she's got a lot of heart."  
  
"Indeed." He hesitated, but had to ask. "What did Stryker do to you?"  
  
She swept a handful of curls away from her face and sighed. "I don't even know half of it. Something that built up my mental shields, I think. An immune system booster. Some kind of gene therapy, very long, very painful. Lots of side effects I'm not sure if he was aiming for or not. I don't sleep much; I heal quick, though nothing like Logan; I have a problem with kidney stones... you get the picture."  
  
He did. This woman had been through the mill, and in many ways was still in it. William Stryker's 'tinkering' might have killed her, and maybe she wasn't so lucky that it hadn't. The effects would plague her for the rest of her life. Not for the first time, or the last time, he wished Jean was still with them. She would know how to help Riley physically, while the most he could offer was mental help she probably wouldn't accept.  
  
He wondered what she would have been like had she not run into Stryker. She was smart, she was strong, she could have been anything she wanted to be. Her life had been taken away from her, and he was determined to help her get as much of it as she could back.  
  
She sighed again, this one wistful. He followed her gaze and saw Kurt hanging upside-down from a tree, chatting amicably with Storm, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Both of them were smiling broadly, taking genuine pleasure in the other's company, their body language revealing more than they realized, oblivious as they were to the world around them. He understood the reason behind the sigh, and silently added his own, also wishing for the simple peace of being with someone you loved, for the ability to shut out the rest of the world. Ever since he had come into his powers, he had never been alone, and he often wondered if that was a good thing.   
  
Riley tore her eyes away from the two and walked briskly away. Xavier let her go. At that moment, he wanted to cry as well.   
  
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	7. Chapter 7: Riley

Hi! Your friendly writer here. This chapter is just a short peek into Riley's mind. Tell me what you think!  
  
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Flash could be happy here, she knew. Flash could get an education, make a future for herself. Riley wouldn't take that away from anyone if there was a chance they might succeed.  
  
But Riley wasn't sure if she could stand it here much longer. Everyone was too kind, too understanding, too generous. It didn't seem real after the sixteen years of brutality she'd been through. A part of her kept glancing over her shoulder, watching for a knife, waiting for someone to jump out of the woodwork, even as she forced a smile. The only time she'd felt secure was with Logan, who she knew watched the woodwork as meticulously as she did.  
  
In a way, the girl's- Rogue's- hostility had been a welcome breath of fresh air. Anger and suspicion she could relate to any day of the week. Being cheerful took work. Her false cordiality was sucking the energy out of her. She was glad she'd never had a chance at high school. She'd have been the punk who hung out in the bathroom smoking to get away from the simpering preps. Facing the music was not Riley's style. She would only let loose when no one was looking.  
  
The warmth of the mansion's decour was at odds with her personality, she finally decided as she walked through the foyer. The rich reds and browns were too warm, too inviting. Nothing here was halfway, nothing here was held back. Riley longed for the semi-comfort of a ratty sofa and a blanket gone grey with age, instead of the queen-sized monstrosity they'd given her. The only time she'd laid on it, it had given her the uneasy sensation of sinking into a bed of marshmallows. She'd pick the floor any day.   
  
The smiles the students gave her as she passed felt fake, tinged with fear or some other unsavory emotion that set her nerves to humming. She wanted to run until she felt like her heart would burst out of her chest, until her breath came in sharp gasps and she was doubled over with exhaustion. She wanted to pound a punching bag until the chain it hung from snapped and the bag went flying across the gym. She wanted the cold, crisp feeling of a cloudless night. For a split second, she even wanted the smell of beer and stale air that had been her parent's house, but that longing passed fairly quickly.  
  
She hadn't belonged there, and she didn't belong here. But where else was there to go? Nowhere. So she would stay here, until the walls closed in and she was smothered by kindness. Unless she exploded first.  
  
Descision made, she marched her way past a group of teenage girls, not giving them a glance as they watched her stalk out of sight around the corner.   
  
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Review! I want to know how it's shaping up to you! 


	8. Chapter 8: Riley

Sorry for the looooong delay! I was down with a glandular infection. Here it is! Review!  
  
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Something woke Riley from her deep sleep in the pre-dawn hours, some tiny feeling in the back of her mind that something was off in her world. She tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but it kept creeping back into her mind like ivy into the cracks of a brick wall, until it became apparent that sleep was impossible. She shoved the covers off and tiptoed down the hall, straining her ever-sharp senses in an effort to pick up the source of her feeling.  
  
The first thing she noticed as she entered the living room was that someone had left a window open- a chilly breeze was blowing that made her loose sweatpants and thin tanktop inadequate covering. Pushing her discomfort out of her mind with a grimace, she headed into the wind, looking for the offending window.  
  
Except it wasn't a window. The front doors were wide open. That wasn't right, and the hair on the back of her neck shot up. Eyes darting around cautiously, she tugged at one of the doorknobs. It didn't budge. She took a breath and felt her arm's muscles contract, and was about to yank the door shut when she heard footsteps approaching. Thinking quick, she transferred the energy to her legs and lept upwards, onto the ceiling, and skittered into a shadowed corner, grateful for the mutation that, while it looked strange, kept her eyes from glinting with reflected light.  
  
Two figures appeared, carrying a bodybag between them and trying hard to be quiet, one of them a handsome boy in his late teens, the other a strange blue woman with yellow eyes like Kurt's. They carried the bag out the door, and then another person rounded the corner, moving casually and making no effort to be quiet, wearing power like the trenchcoat that swirled around his leather shoes with each step. Instinctively, Riley held her breath to wait for him to pass, but he stopped and raised a hand.  
  
Her dogtags lept towards him, and her quick reflexes kept her neck from breaking as they flew towards him. He inspected them slowly. "Spider, eh? Why don't you come out and fight like a man?"  
  
"Because I doubt you fight like one," she said frankly, but she moved anyways, matching him for drama as she slowly moved out of the shadows into the circle of light made by the chandelier on the ceiling. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Collecting something of use to me," he said cryptically, pocketing her tags, and she felt a spurt of rage. Those were hers, goddammit. "Ah, Logan," he said, turning behind to see Logan, who had been trying to sneak up on him.   
  
"He's got Rogue," Logan said through a clenched jaw, and she realized that the stranger was somehow holding him immobile. He was asking her to act for him.   
  
She dropped to the ground, blocking the entrance. "You can't take her," she said, clenching her fists and preparing to attack.  
  
The man simply smiled. "I already have." A flick of an eyelid was all the warning she had before a blue arm dropped into view, and she flinched down just in time to prevent being locked in a chinhold. She lept straight back, catching the woman behind her in her flight out of the mansion. They landed a good thirty feet down the path, the blue woman considerably harder than Riley, and Riley turned to administer a swift kick in the stomach before her opponent had time to catch her balance. She ran towards the man who had her dogtags, but was brought up short as she had to dodge a flying disk of metal about the size of a coffee table that probably would have cut her in half. She tracked it with her eyes as it made a wide return arc, and jumped aside so that it was headed straight at the helicopter's blades, but the man controlling it was too quick for that and stopped it before it could destroy his transportation. The blue woman dove into the helicopter and the man climbed in as the boy leaned out and flicked a lighter on: a wall of flames rose in between her and her target, and the chopper rose above the mansion.   
  
Thinking fast, she shot a stranding of webbing up, and held onto it as it stuck to the underside of the copter, so that she swung into the air with it. She hurriedly wrapped it around her hand several times, and glanced back at the mansion just in time to see it disappear from sight.  
  
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Review! Predictions welcome! 


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